TOA-Based Passive Localization Constructed Over Factor Graphs: A Unified Framework

Passive localization based on time of arrival (TOA) measurements is investigated, where the transmitted signal is reflected by a passive target and then received at several distributed receivers. After collecting all measurements at receivers, we can determine the target location. The aim of this paper is to provide a unified factor graph-based framework for passive localization in wireless sensor networks based on TOA measurements. Relying on the linearization of range measurements, we construct a Forney-style factor graph model and conceive the corresponding Gaussian message passing algorithm to obtain the target location. It is shown that the factor graph can be readily modified for handling challenging scenarios such as uncertain receiver positions and link failures. Moreover, a distributed localization method based on consensus-aided operation is proposed for a large-scale resource constrained network operating without a fusion center. Furthermore, we derive the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Our simulation results verify the efficiency of the proposed unified approach and of its distributed implementation.